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Col. Robert Swain Jr., 439th Airlift Wing commander, flew his final C-5 mission Aug. 3. Dozens of onlookers awaited the conclusion of the commander's fini flight, including his wife, Diane Swain, who used a large hose from the Westover Fire Department to douse her husband shortly after he stepped down the crew ladder from the C-5. The fini flight adds to the colonel's more than 3,500 hours flying C-5s and A-10s -- including 51 combat missions over Southwest Asia. Swain is the first pilot to score an air-to-air kill in an A-10 Thunderbolt II, when he downed an Iraqi helicopter during Operation Desert Storm. He will relinquish command of the 439th AW Aug. 6 to Col. Steven Vautrain. (US Air Force photo/W.C.pope)


Col. Swain fini flight

Col. Robert Swain Jr., 439th Airlift Wing commander, flew his final C-5 mission Aug. 3. Dozens of onlookers awaited the conclusion of the commander's fini flight, including his wife, Diane Swain, who used a large hose from the Westover Fire Department to douse her husband shortly after he stepped down the crew ladder from the C-5. The fini flight adds to the colonel's more than 3,500 hours flying C-5s and A-10s -- including 51 combat missions over Southwest Asia. Swain is the first pilot to score an air-to-air kill in an A-10 Thunderbolt II, when he downed an Iraqi helicopter during Operation Desert Storm. He will relinquish command of the 439th AW Aug. 6 to Col. Steven Vautrain. (US Air Force photo/W.C.pope)

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Official photo
Official photo
The oldest C-5 in the Air Force fleet departed Westover April 20 for the boneyard in Arizona. Tail 69-0020 – one of the original C-5s assigned to the 439th Airlift Wing when C-5 operations began at Westover in 1987 – lifted into cloudy horizon on its last flight for Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, near Tucson. According to statistics from the 439th Maintenance Group, this Galaxy was assigned to the 433rd Airlift Wing at Joint Base Lackland-San Antonio. It’s been among several loaner A models assigned to Westover to help bridge the gap between the 439th AW’s conversion from B to M models. This C-5, built in 1969, had more than 21,000 flight hours. It was first delivered to the 60th Military Airlift Wing at Travis Air Force Base, Calif., in November 1971. The remaining three C-5As at Westover are scheduled to be retired by the end of the summer, as the conversion to the Super Galaxies gets under way.
FALLEN ANGEL >> The body of Army Private First Class Brian Odiorne came home to Ware, Mass. March 2. The aircraft carrying his casket landed at Westover. As the procession traveled to the Westover Road Gate from the flight line, Airmen rendered salutes to the fallen 21-year-old. The procession included Massachusetts State Troopers, Chicopee Police, Ware Police, and the soldier’s family. Some of the Westover “saluters” stood out in the cold waiting for almost an hour. The winds reached 48 mph with a wind chill of 17 degrees. (photo by William C. Pope)
Patriot Sands
Patriot Sands
Patriot Sands
Patriot Sands
Regional airport managers from western Massachusetts and New England take a break for a photo in front of a C-5M Super Galaxy at Westover, March 23, 2017, while a C-5A Galaxy flies overhead. The managers toured the Dover Air Force Base, Del.-based C-5M and were briefed on the 439th Airlift Wing’s eventual modernization to the M-models, beginning later into 2017. Westover Air Reserve Base is a joint-use airfield, with the Air Force sharing its runways with the adjacent Westover Metropolitan Airport. (U.S. Air Force photo/Master Sgt. Andrew Biscoe)
The last C-5B in the Air Force inventory takes off from Westover Jan. 18. The aircraft, tail number 87-0043, headed to Lockheed-Martin to get its second life as a modernized C-5M. The plane rose into the morning fog, as vapor and clouds clustered around its wings.
A Dec. 29, 2016 sunrise aligns the control tower at Westover. The tower, built in 2002, rises 123 feet high. (US Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Andrew Biscoe)
This C-5B (tail number 041), having completed its last isochronal inspection at Westover as a B-model, takes off from the Air Force Reserve Command base Nov. 22 bound for Lockheed-Martin in Marietta, Ga., where it will be modified to a C-5M Super Galaxy.

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